Chapter 22: The System's Whisper**
The sky above Zone Theta had changed color. What once shimmered like a crystal ocean had now become darker, veined with glowing fault lines like a cracked mirror. Thunder hummed not from clouds, but from the system itself.
Yuuto stood at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the ravaged landscape of the dungeon below. His eyes, faintly lit with the Status Unbound glow, saw more than just shattered terrain. He saw patterns. Movements. The trembling of unseen entities preparing to awaken.
Behind him, Kaien adjusted his gauntlet. "The terrain's changing faster than the system updates. It's like it's rewriting itself."
Yuuto didn't respond immediately. Instead, he opened his panel and navigated toward the deeper functions the recent relic had unlocked.
> \[System Alert: Passive Authority Access - Granted]
> \[Celestial Core Control - 2% Synced]
Lyra's words echoed.
*"They'll mark you now."*
He hadn't understood then. But the changes had already begun. The interface had stopped speaking in monotone lines. It whispered now. Not with sound, but presence. As if something was watching *through* it.
He closed his eyes.
> \[New Quest Generated: The Memory Tombs Awaken]
> \[Objective: Locate the Three Tombs of Reversal. Claim their echoes. Prevent a celestial rebirth.]
Kaien glanced over his shoulder. "You're seeing it too, huh? The whispers? My sword lit up this morning without me drawing it. The artifact we found yesterday melted into my stat screen. This isn't just system evolution. Something's pushing *into* us."
Yuuto nodded. "It's not just upgrades. It's merging. Like... the system wants a host."
They descended the cliff in silence, Team Astra following. The ground beneath them pulsed with ancient sigils, half-buried in dust and moss. The further they traveled, the stronger the pull.
Suddenly, a low tone pulsed across the area.
> \[Warning: External Entity Detected - Class: Paradox Celestial]
From the fog ahead, a figure emerged. Not quite solid. Not quite energy.
It bore Lyra's face.
Kaien readied his weapon. "Is that her?"
Yuuto's jaw tightened. "No. It's not. It's a mimic formed from memory residue."
The entity tilted its head, and its eyes bled white fire.
> \[Challenge Initiated: Echo of the Forsaken Flame]
> \[Victory Condition: Survive 3 Phases. Optional: Extract Core Fragment.]
The first wave struck like lightning. Fire not made of flame, but of emotion: anger, betrayal, longing. Yuuto shielded the others, drawing deep from Status Unbound, shifting his resistance type in real time.
His screen blinked rapidly.
> \[Attribute Modified: Emotional Resistance +250%]
Kaien lunged in, cutting through the false Lyra's projection. The illusion cracked, splitting into dozens of mirrored shards, each showing a version of the past.
One showed Yuuto crying before his mother's grave.
Another, alone in his dark room, surrounded by empty screens.
Another, standing over Lyra's collapsed form after their last battle.
The system was *not* just a machine.
It was remembering.
Yuuto gathered his power and surged forward, slicing through his own image. Each shattered echo exploded in a burst of code and scream.
> \[Phase 2 Initiated]
The mimic split its face, revealing a third eye made of raw celestial code. It scanned Yuuto, and for a moment, the entire world stilled.
> \[Synchronization: 12%... 19%... 27%...]
Yuuto's thoughts scattered. Flashes of his memories bled into the mimic's projection. His mother's voice. The cold silence of the cult. The curse. The exorcism. The betrayal at school.
He gritted his teeth. "You don't get to *wear* my pain."
He activated Parallel Mind. The skill split his consciousness again—one half focused on resisting, the other crafting a strike beyond stats: a **conceptual slash**.
> \[New Ability Formed: Memory Severance]
He drove the blade forward.
> \[Phase Cleared. Fragment Extracted. Core: Requiem Flame]
The false Lyra collapsed, disintegrating into data motes that lingered like ashes.
The air stilled. The dungeon map shifted again.
> \[Tomb Location Unlocked: Whispering Valley]
Kaien approached. "What the hell was that? That wasn't just a fight. That thing *felt*."
Yuuto closed his eyes. "It's testing us. Learning us. We aren't just players anymore. We're offerings."
His screen flickered.
> \[New Title Unlocked: The Echobreaker]
Far away, in another zone, a light flared.
And Lyra, the *real* Lyra, turned toward the disturbance.
"So... you've started listening to it too, Yuuto."
She touched her own panel, where a similar whisper echoed.
But hers didn't speak of tombs. It spoke of war.
---
End of Chapter 22